Blue Corn

Blue Corn (1921-1999) was a potter from San Ildefonso Pueblo. She was born Crucita Calabaza. The name Blue Corn was given to her by one of Maria Martinez‘ sisters during her San Ildefonso naming ceremony.

Blue Corn made her first piece of pottery at the age of three. She said her grandmother told her when she was young, “Your hands were made for pottery.” That was a prophetic statement because Blue Corn made pottery for nearly her entire life.

Blue Corn was born in that time when many Native American children were being educated in boarding schools. She was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, about 25 miles from home. Both her parents died while she was away at school. Summers were spent in her grandmother’s home until she had enough of school. Then she was sent to live with relatives in southern California.

For a while she worked as a maid in a Beverly Hills mansion. Then she returned to New Mexico and met Artillery Sergeant Santiago Calabazas. He, too, was an orphan and was educated in boarding schools. Neither of them had graduated high school. They fell in love but World War II was on. After the war he returned to Santo Domingo Pueblo and resumed his career as a silversmith. Then he and Blue Corn married. In keeping with Pueblo tradition he moved to her home at San Ildefonso.

In those years Blue Corn worked as a housekeeper for J. Robert Oppenheimer, the famous nuclear physicist who was the founder and first Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. She began making pottery again after her first son, Joseph, was born.

Blue Corn was especially known for her polychrome designs on cream-colored jars and plates. She and Santiago spent several years experimenting with different techniques, forms, clays and colors.

Blue Corn produced a significant number of redware and blackware pieces through the years. By the late 1960s she was emerging as a leader in the revival of polychrome pottery. She was known for highly polished white, cream and buff slips, which she said she produced by polishing very slowly. She also selected subtle colors of clay with which to paint her designs.

Santiago passed away in 1972 and their son Joseph took his place in helping Blue Corn make her pottery.

Blue Corn was known for making jars, plates, wedding vases, oval blackware lidded boxes and black-on-black owl figures. Her favorite designs included feathers, rain clouds, turtles and the avanyu (the mythic Tewa water serpent).

She did demonstrations and exhibitions all around the country and participated in shows like the Santa Fe Indian Market and the New Mexico State Fair, earning major awards at both. In 1981 she was awarded the 8th Annual Governor’s Award, the highest artistic honor awarded by the State of New Mexico.

When she died, Blue Corn had raised 10 children and they had given her 18 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. She had also taught many people how to make pottery, including most of her own children. Some of them went on to become award-winning potters in their own right.

Some Exhibits that featured Blue Corn’s work

• Gifts from the Community. Heard Museum West. April 12, 2008 – October 12, 2008
• Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, AZ. 2007
• Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2005
• Breaking the Surface: Carved Pottery Techniques and Designs. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2004
• Hold Everything! Masterworks of Pottery and Basketry from the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2001
• Images, Artists, Styles: Recent Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, AZ. 2001
• Lovena Ohl: An Eye for Art, A Heart for Artists. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2000
• Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 1998
• Recent Acquisitions from the Herman and Claire Bloom Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ 1997
• Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1994
• Rain. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 1993
• Dancing Across Time: Indian Images of the Southwest. American Contemporary Arts. San Francisco, CA. 1995
• Blue Corn and Al Nez. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1991
• Al Nez, Norma Antone, Blue Corn and Elk Woman. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1990
• Seven Families in Pueblo Pottery. Simply Santa Fe. Santa Fe, NM. 1990
• 18th Anniversary Show. Pacific Western Traders. Folsom, CA. 1989
• Phil Poseyesva and Blue Corn. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1989
• Breaking the Surface: Carved Pottery Techniques and Designs. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2004
• Indian Art for the Home. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1988
• San Ildefonso Pottery: Blue Corn. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 1988
• Al Nez and Blue Corn. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1987
• Mother Earth, Father Sky. University of Southern California. Idyllwild, CA. 1987
• 1987 Group Show. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ.
• 1986 Group Show. Robert Dean Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ.
  Dennis Tewa, Michael Kabotie and Blue Corn. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1986
• Celebrate the Spirit. Felicita Foundation for the Arts. Mathes Cultural Center. Escondido, CA. 1985
• Art for Life. Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Scottsdale, AZ. 1983
• 1983 Group Show. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, AZ.
• Larry Grolsch, Blue Corn and Robert Redbird. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1982
• Seven Pueblo Potters. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1982
• 1982 Autumn Market. Pacific Western Traders. Folsom, CA.
• American Indian Pottery and Baskets: Art Deco Design. L’Omega Gallery. Kansas City, MO. 1981
• Art of the Southwest. Pacific Western Traders. Folsom, CA. 1980
• The Santa Fe Indian Market in Perspective. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 1979 – September 24, 1979
• Images from the Earth. Institute of American Indian Arts. Santa Fe, NM. 1978
• Feature Artists for the 1977-1978 Season. Tanner’s Indian Arts. Scottsdale, AZ. 1977
• Ceramics: New Mexico. University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM. 1974
• Eighth Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition. Executive House. Scottsdale, AZ. 1969
• Seventh Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition. Executive House. Scottsdale, AZ. 1968

Some Awards Blue Corn earned

• 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class II – Pottery, Div. F – Traditional, Second Place;
  Div. E – Traditional, Second Place
• 1986 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class II – Pottery, Div. E – Traditional, Cat. 1107 – Plates, Third Place;
  – Div. H – Non-traditional, Cat. 1309 – jewelry, First Place;
  – Div. D – Traditional Pottery, Carved, Cat. 1006 – Plates, First Place
• 1981 Eight Annual Governor’s Award. Albuquerque, NM.
• 1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII, Division C – Miniatures: Honorable Mention. Awarded for artwork: Polychrome bowl
• 1977 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. Class V – Baskets, Cat. D – Other Traditional, First Place
• 1973 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification XII – Pottery, Division A – Traditional shapes and designs: Second Place
• 1969 Eighth Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition. Executive House. Scottsdale, AZ. Section B – Crafts. Classification VII – Pottery, Section 2 – New Mexico: Second Place
• 1968 Seventh Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition. Executive House. Scottsdale, AZ. Section B – Crafts, Classification IX – Pottery, Division A – Traditional, Section 2 – New Mexico: First Place and Honorable Mention